Patrick Rona

Having held several senior regional and global agency roles in companies such as McCann Worldgroup, DDB, OgilvyOne, and Craik Jones, to name a few, Patrick brings over 25 years of experience to advise and support start-ups in developing brand and marketing strategies.

Before he was an Advisor to Start-ups, he was the Director and Head of Brand and Thought Leadership at Cigna IM. Patrick was responsible for all brand marketing and thought leadership activities across all International Markets targeting employees, B2C and B2B audiences. He also managed communications plans across paid, owned and earned media channels, in addition to handling creative, PR and media agency relationships and associated budgets.

Prior to Cigna, Patrick was the Chief Digital Officer for McCann Worldgroup APAC for five years. At McCann, Patrick was responsible for the growth of the agency’s digital marketing capabilities, revenue and reputation; and for helping lead key client relationships including L’Oreal, Coca Cola and Cigna IM. During his tenure, Patrick helped the agency become the APAC Effie Most Effective Agency Network (2018, 2019).

Before joining McCann, Patrick was Chief Digital Officer for DDB Group, Global Digital Client Partner for OgilvyOne UK, Head of Digital for Craik Jones London, SVP / Head of Client Service for Digitas London, and Account Director for Agency.com New York. Patrick began his career in private equity in New York in the early 1990s, where he helped build one of the first trans-Latin America mobile networks in partnership with Motorola and Bell South.